Breaking in a glove can be a tedious, time-consuming process. If a young player starts the season with a new, stiff glove, he is going to be at a disadvantage in comparison to other kids with broken-in models. He may not be able to catch very easily and may make some errors, and that will lead to frustration. From my experiences, I have the ability to foresee that potential frustration and help parents and coaches of young players avoid it. When a glove is given as a holiday gift, the time to begin breaking in that glove is the moment it is unwrapped!

There are many stories about how people break in their gloves. In going along with our "Celebrate the Individual" philosophy, I am not going to tell you that any methods that you might use are incorrect. If it works for you and you get the results you desire, go with it. I am sure, however, that the best and most effective way to really break in a glove is to use it. Put some glove oil in the pocket and the webbing and get out there and play catch!

The one cardinal rule to breaking in a glove that should not be compromised is to never let someone else put his or her hand in the glove. As a parent or coach, you might be tempted to take a player's new glove and jam your hand in it to loosen it up and start to alleviate some of the stiffness. Don't do it! Once your hand print is in there and once the palm is stretched out, your little player's hand is never going to feel absolutely right in there.

Here's a story to illustrate this point - in reverse! Not too long ago, I received a new glove to try out from Nike. I'm still a little kid at heart, and getting a new glove or bat is like Christmas for me. So I took the glove out and started using it in hopes of breaking it in. Well, after weeks of playing catch and working with the glove, I finally got it to the point of feeling pretty good. Then the glove disappeared. I asked my son Ryan if he had seen the glove, and he said that a friend of his had borrowed it. When I finally got the glove back, it just didn't feel right. Who knows how many hands of different sizes were inside that glove. My hands are bigger than most people's, so I don't think anyone really stretched out the glove too much, but whoever played with the glove altered the feel of it on my hand. Remember, the most important thing is for the glove to feel good on your hand.

Once you have oiled up the glove pretty thoroughly, it is time to start the real breaking-in process. Playing a simple game of catch is the best way to have the glove start to take shape and fit your hand. One thing to watch out for, especially with younger players, is how they actually catch the ball. The ball should be caught in the pocket, not the webbing. The pocket is really the palm of the glove. Many times you will see kids catching the ball in their webbing. In a game situation, it is harder to transfer a ball from the glove to your throwing hand if you catch it in the webbing. When breaking in a glove, catching the ball in the webbing will not allow the pocket to form. The pocket is the stiffest part of the glove. It is the part that needs to be shaped to fit your hand and the ball, so that's where you should try to catch the ball when breaking in a new glove.

Another trick is to oil the glove up and wear it when sitting around the house watching television. Take a baseball and pound it into the pocket over and over to help shape that part of the glove. Again, the emphasis should be on forming a pocket appropriate for the player's hand and a baseball.

Once again, with kids, the challenge is going to be to get them to leave their comfort zones in order to try out and break in their new gloves. As is often the case with parenting, a compromise may be in order. First, explain why the player needs to use the glove. Tell the player that a bigger model will be needed next year and that he or she will be behind the other players if the new glove is not ready to use. Second, tell the player that he or she can use the old glove for half the time when playing catch, for half the time at practice and all the time during games.

Finally, when choosing the new glove, let the player actually go to the store and pick out the one that he or she wants. If the player gets a glove that he or she thinks is really cool for one reason or another, it is more likely that the glove will be used enough to get it broken in.

Again, I don't have any magic advice about how to break in a glove quickly, but there are many stories of quick-fix attempts. Here are a few I have heard of:

Soak the Glove in Water
Some players will soak a new glove in water and then play catch with it while it's wet. When they are done, they will wrap the glove with a rubber band or belt and put a baseball in the pocket to help shape the palm. When the glove is wet the leather is softer and seems easier to shape. I have noticed the same thing when playing catch with a new glove on a rainy day. If I was trying to break in a new glove and found myself sitting around during a rain delay, I might go out and play catch with it in the rain to help shape the pocket more quickly. Some players have gone so far as to put the wet, wrapped-up glove under their mattress to allow their weight to help shape the pocket even more when they sleep. As someone who has suffered from back pain, I'm not sure that I would recommend this!

Soak the Glove with Shaving Cream
This seems to have a similar effect to soaking a glove with oil. In fact, some glove conditioning products on the market actually resemble small cans of shaving cream. The shaving cream softens the leather. The player then plays catch with the glove and often wraps it up with a rubber band or belt. Again, some players will sleep on the glove after doing this.

"Cooking" the Glove
I know of people who have "cooked" their gloves to break them in … literally. One such method is to oil the glove up, play catch and then wrap the glove up with a belt or rubber band after placing a ball in the pocket. From there, I have heard different stories. I have heard of some players who put the glove in an oven for a short time. Still others have placed the glove in a bread or cooking bag and left it in their hot cars for a couple of days.

While I cannot vouch for or endorse any of these methods, if you are in a pinch one of them might be worth trying!

Good luck with your holiday purchase and the follow-up work involved. There's nothing better than thinking about baseball during the cold, winter holidays. Please have a safe, relaxing and enjoyable holiday season.